October 14, 2025
Good morning,
As a Mennonite, you might have celebrated Communion this past weekend. For most of Mennonite history we celebrated the Lord’s Supper twice a year, Good Friday and around early October. World Communion Sunday is the first Sunday in October. As we understand, the Catholic Church celebrated the Mass everyday. Two very different understandings of the bread and the cup. The early church celebrated the Supper every time they ate together ( according to Acts ). After the early baptisms in Zurich in 1525, the Anabaptists were having communion all the time.
In John 15, returning to the last meal, Jesus describes who he is. He says, ” I am the true vine “. This is the final of seven ‘ I am ‘ statements that Jesus calls himself as recorded by John. For John, these are words that define who Jesus is. He states, ‘ I am the bread of life… I am the light of the world … I am the door of the sheep… I am the good shepherd… I am the resurrection and life… I am the way the truth and the life… ‘. John’s Gospel is framed around these ‘ I am ” statements. The other Gospel writers do not shape the life of Jesus this way. This is connected to the God of the Old Testament. When Moses sees the burning bush, God says, ” I am who I am “. I think, believe, that Jesus is connecting to God in this way.This wraps up this teaching here at the dinner table. I wonder who told the writer that Jesus said all these things ?
As you probably know, I am not a literalist in my understanding of the Bible. I think we are always interpreting the word of God for our lives as a group of believers. I am a volunteer interpretative guide at The Mennonite Story, and I am telling the people who come to the cabin/museum that one of the beliefs that Mennonites broke with the Catholic church was about the bread and the cup. Catholics believe that the bread and cup turn into the flesh and blood of Jesus during the Mass. Mennonites thought that was not right. But in John 6:
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ( verses 53-56 )
Hmmmmmm…
Fred
black and white shadows
crush humanity’s freedom
Ponder Anew 